Bataan; Mariveles and Mt. Samat

After a bus ride of about 5 hours with our nephew Van, we arrived in Mariveles, Bataan. A small tricycle ride brought us to Tita Edna her house where we stayed for 3 nights and 2 days. It was early and we still had a day to do some sightseeing.

Mt. Samat National Shrine
The mountain called Samat is located near the town Pilár and has a national shrine dedicated to the fallen Filipino and American soldiers during World War II. To enter the memorial cross, you need to go with an elevator. Sounds like a logic thing to us since it is so high, but this elevator was one of those in bad dreams. It made creepy noises, it was hot and did not go very fast either. Not sure if that last one is a good thing or a badNevertheless, once you crossed (ha-ha) the creepy elevator, you will be rewarded with an amazing view! Elsewhere on the property you can sit down and relax or have a meal with your friends and/or family.

Good to know
* Only a selected amount of people can enter the elevator
* It is not allowed to bring food or drinks, not sure why. But you will get it back afterwards.
* Once you are up, there is nothing else to do than to enjoy the view
* There are a lot of mosquitoes ready to get you. So bring your mosquito repeller! Even better, bring your organic mosquito repeller ;).

Our mission is to remember
A little walk down the hill you can find another part of a WWII memorial and monument surrounded with World War II artillery. These walls tell the stories of the war and its mission is to remember. It is quite interesting to stop and think about the words carved in the walls. On the other hand, it is also nice to just walk around and take photo’s with a nice view. My thoughts went automatically to imagining how the war looked like around this place.
We went to an animal park that same day. Still not sure what to think about animal parks. One on hand, it is ethically wrong to cage animals. On the other hand, we do not know their motives. Maybe the animals are rescued, but then again why keep it for a long period of time, when not necessary? This question came to our minds because there was a scorpio in an open glass box. Yes. Open.

What? Open?

Yes. Open.
Aren’t those animals dangerous if they attack you? Yes there are, but not if the tip of their tail is chipped away to prevent them from stinging people. Nevertheless, all these creatures are beautiful. Even though these ethical questions came to mind, we still enjoyed the animals and our time spent together. There was even a workshop called ’how to survive in the wild’. Two men showed us how to make a fork, knife, spoon and cup from bamboo. They made a joke about ’puti’ – white – people with bigger noses. After they showed how to make a cup, they made a bigger slice in it so big noses would fit in the cup, and not bump their nose to the edge. It was directed to Vincent, we all laughed and then they continued to show how to make a fire and how to get water from trees. Very interesting! And we could keep the cup, but take this advice: do not pour gatorade in it. It is going to smell..
Furthermore, we made a quick pitstop at an adventure park, where you can climb in high trees and do other adventurous activities. But none of us really wanted to go on an adventure. Anyway, there is plenty to do in Bataan!